Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China, and lives and works in New York where he creates amazing sculptures. He studied stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute from 1981 to 1985 and attended the Institute for Contemporary Art: The National and International Studio Program at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City. His work is both scholarly and politically charged.

Accomplished in a variety of media, Cai began using gunpowder in his work to foster spontaneity and confront the controlled artistic tradition and social climate in China. While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, he explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, leading to the development of his signature explosion events. Cai’s use of gunpowder has become central to his practice, leading to his experimentation with explosives and the development of his signature ignition events. These projects, while poetic and ambitious at their core, aim to establish an exchange between viewers and the larger universe.

For his work, Cai draws on a wide variety of materials, symbols, narratives, and traditions: elements of feng shui, Chinese medicine and philosophy, images of dragons and tigers, roller coasters, computers, vending machines, and gunpowder. Since the September 11 tragedy, he has reflected upon his use of explosives both as metaphor and material.